1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording medium such as a write-once optical disc and a method and apparatus for recording management information on the write-once optical disc.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
As an optical recording medium, optical discs on which high-capacity data can be recorded are widely being used. Among them, a new high-density optical recording medium (HD-DVD), for example, a Blu-ray disc, has been recently developed for recording and storing high-definition video data and high-quality audio data for a long term period.
The Blu-ray disc is the next generation HD-DVD technology and the next generation optical recording solution, and has an excellent capability to store data more than the existing DVDs. Recently, a technical specification of international standard for HD-DVD has been established.
Related with this, various standards for a write-once Blu-ray disc (BD-WO) are being prepared following the standards for a rewritable Blu-ray disc (BD-RE).
Among the standards for the write-once Blu-ray disc (BD-WO), a disc management information recording method is particularly discussed. This method includes a method of recording information on the recording status of the disc as a characteristic of the write-once optical disc. The information on the recording status of a disc is referred to herein as recording status information or disc recording status information.
The recording status information represents a usage status of the disc, and allows a host or user to find easily a recordable area on the write-once optical disc. For the conventional write-once optical discs such as CDs and DVDs, the information on the disc recording status is known as: track information for the CD, and RZone or fragment for the DVD.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the recording status information of a DVD-R disc according to a related art.
Referring to FIG. 1, the management information of the DVD-R is recorded in a recording management data (RMD) area. Particularly, the recording status information of the DVD-R is managed using RMD fields 4-12 of the RMD area. There are an open RZone, an invisible R-Zone and a closed RZone.
As for the RZone information, when a host requires an additionally recordable location to additionally record data on the disc, a driver confirms the LRAs (last recorded areas) of a first open RZone and a second open RZone, and generally transmits the location “LRA+1” as the additionally recordable location to the host.
However, since the conventional DVD-R as described above is different from a write-once Blu-ray disc (BD-WO) in their physical structure and environment, the conventional method of providing management information cannot be just applied to the BD-WO. In case of the BD-WO, a driver manages disc defects, but the BD-WO is required to have a special additional area for the driver to manage the defects. The BD-WO, thus, has a complex disc structure and as a result, the method of managing the recording status of the DVD-R cannot be used for the BD-WO.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method of managing the recording status of a high density write-once optical disc such as a BD-WO, so that the disc can be accessed easily and used more effectively. And such management information should be structured to ensure compatibility with the overall structure use and standards of the BD-WO.